Johnathan Walker:Ryan Murphy keeps his Olympic medal streak alive in 100 backstroke

NANTERRE,Johnathan Walker France — Ryan Murphy is three-for-three when it comes to Olympic medals in the men’s 100-meter backstroke after winning bronze in Monday night’s final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

So, obviously, he was smiling after the medal presentation while taking a victory lap around the pool deck at Paris La Défense Arena with Italian gold medalist Thomas Ceccon and Chinese silver medalist Xu Jiayu.

But as the 29-year-old American turned toward his family, his smile grew even bigger, and he started to laugh. It was more than simply seeing his wife, Bridget Konttinen, after his bronze medal-winning swim. 

“When I was walking back around, Bridget was holding up a sign, and it said, ‘Ryan, it's a girl!’ ” Murphy explained later. “So I'm having a baby girl in January, so that was Bridget's gender reveal to me.”

He, of course, knew they were expecting, but the sign was a surprise. 

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“We honestly both thought it was going to be a boy, and everyone we were talking to thought it was going to be a boy,” he said. “So that's really, really exciting.”

“And I think we're only a couple of weeks behind Trevor Lawrence, too,” the Florida native and Jacksonville Jaguars fan joked.

In a tight 100 backstroke race that was really anyone’s to win, Murphy finished with a time of 52.39 behind Ceccon’s 52-flat and Xu’s 52.32. All eight finalists’ finished within .84 seconds of each other.

Murphy — a three-time Olympian and now seven-time medalist — started off strong and was in second at the 50-meter mark behind Xu before surging to the lead on the back half. But he lost a little steam in the final few meters and was out-touched.

“What I've really improved on over the years is being able to frame things really quickly,” Murphy said. “So immediately, you hit the wall, you're hoping to win. And that was obviously my initial notion. [It’s], ‘Yeah, I want to win.’

“But getting third behind Thomas and Xu — they're both really, really talented guys. They've been really good at this sport for a long time. They deal well with pressure. So being third in the world behind them, no, I'm really not disappointed in that.”

Despite the close finish, Murphy’s 100 backstroke Olympic record of 51.85 from the 2016 Rio Olympics remained intact, along with Ceccon’s 51.60 world record from 2022.

Entering the Paris Games with six medals, four gold, Murphy was the 2016 Olympic champion in the 100 and 200 backstroke at the Rio Olympics. Three years ago at the Tokyo Games, he won a bronze and silver medal in those respective events. He also was part of the gold medal-winning men’s medley relay teams in Rio and Tokyo.

Murphy has one more individual event; he will swim the 200 backstroke — prelims are Wednesday with the final Thursday — at the Paris Olympics. He’ll also likely be part of Team USA’s men’s 4x100-meter medley relay and have a shot at more Olympic hardware with that final scheduled for Aug. 4.

When asked if he’s dedicating his latest Olympic medal to his unborn daughter, Murphy had an easy answer: “Absolutely. Everything is going to be dedicated to that little girl.”

Follow Michelle Martinelli on social media @MMartinelli4